WHAT – Urd and the Brunnmigi

Eight-year-old Frodi Biorsson was frustrated at not knowing what to do. His mother had waited until the sun had fully risen before sending him to the village for help. “Run as fast as you can; stay away from the mist,” she had said, so he ran fast along the trail avoiding the mist still lingering in the woods and ravines, the mist where monsters hid.

Now, he stood at the door of the mead hall and couldn’t decide what to do next. Frodi had been taught to stand still until he was noticed, but the door was closed, “who could see him through the door?” he thought. Maybe he should just walk in, but that would be rude, or maybe he should knock on the door to get someone to notice him. Then again, his mother needed help, surely that would excuse any rudeness. While all of these thoughts swirled in his head, the door opened and a man with a gray beard stepped out.

The gray beard belonged to Brodir Nikolasson, he looked down at the small boy and smiled, “You’re a bit young for a tankard at this time of day.”

In between sobs Frodi repeated his mother’s plea for help. Brodir Nikolasson took the boy into the mead hall where he pointed at a woman slumped over a table. She had fiery red hair and a fine green cloak covering her shoulders and neck. He strode across the room with the boy in tow and after he had positioned Frodi in front of her, he picked up the wash basin and dumped the water on the sleeping woman’s head.

Spluttering, Urd jerked herself upright and shouted “Sordinn!”

“Watch your mouth, Urd Snorrisdottir,” Brodir laughed, “there are children present” pointing his thumb toward the boy.

Brushing strands of wet hair away from her face, Urd turned her gaze to a small wide-eyed boy. “Well then, who dares to wake a skjaldmaer from her slumber?” she asked.

Frodi immediately lowered his head looking at the floor and stammering “My ma sent me to -“

Giving the boy a shove, Brodir growled “Don’t stare at the floor, lad, look her in the eye, she’s a shield maiden, not some frilly god. You’re a free man, same as she, looking her eye to eye as you speak shows respect. Don’t be afraid and tell her your name.”

The boy looked up and forgetting his fear said, “I am Frodi Biorsson, my mother, Tola Asvalsdottir, has sent me to fetch help, something has happened at our farm.”

“We will go to your farm immediately” spoke a voice from the staircase. Frodi turned to see a tall woman with pale blond hair, hair that was almost white. She held a staff with intricately carved symbols and animals.

Urd chuckled, “The seeress has spoken young Frodi Briorsson, will you lead us to your farm?”

When the adventurers arrived at the farm, there was a group of people standing around the farm’s well. “No one here but the old, women and children” remarked Swein Arisson.

“Aye, it’s as the barkeep told us. The Jarl of this area has called out the entire levy, we’ll find no one capable of wielding a sword here” said Brodir.

Swein added, “None save those who disobeyed the Jarl’s command or turned to banditry.”

“Calling up the entire levy was a foolish thing to do” said Urd. She winced; she had come close enough to smell a putrid odor coming from the well. She immediately knew the well had been poisoned.

The malicious deed of poisoning water, especially a well makes everyone in a community feel vulnerable. The fear was visible on their faces as Tofa stepped past Urd. Leaning over the well, Tofa used her hands to waft the noxious fumes into her nostrils. Urd shook her head, her sister was a strange one, yet very powerful in witchcraft. Urd and the rest of the band began searching the area for clues.

“This was the work of a Brunnmigi,” Tofa announced, “it smells of the beast’s urine.”

The confused crowd began murmuring, some surprised and some scoffing. Urd gave Tofa a perplexed look. “Are you sure?” asked hoary headed Grunnvor Karsdottir, “No one has ever seen or heard of a Brunnmigi outside of the ancient sagas.”

Tofa answered, “It is nearly impossible to see a Brunnmigi. It’s a spirit creature in the form of a large fox-bear the color of the sky. If the day is bright, it is blue; if the skies are overcast, it is gray, and if it appears at night, it is black.”

The old ranger, Brodir squatted and pointed at faint footprints about ten yards from the well. Urd nodded and pointing to the southwest, asked Tola Asvalsdottir, “What lies in that direction?”

“Njal Tofisson’s farm is about four miles in that direction” replied Tola.

Urd smiled and turning toward Tofa asked, “Tell me, sister, does your well pissing bear wear boots?”

About a mile and a half from the farm, the adventurers ran into a band of hobgoblins, which didn’t make sense to Urd, the well had been poisoned in the night and if these hobgoblins were responsible, they should have been several miles from the farm by now. Both groups were surprised to see one another, but the Hobgoblins acted first.

The Hobgoblin quickly loosed an arrow striking Grimkel. The spearman fell to the ground. The rest of the Hobgoblins charged. The Hobgoblin facing Urd wasn’t a particularly good swordsman, but he had good armor. After trading several blows, Urd’s axe finally bit through the armor.

Tofa was trying to prepare a spell when she was rushed by a spearman. The weight of his attack forced her to duck back out of his reach. Meanwhile, the Hobgoblins’ leader took on Brodir, but the cagey old ranger sidestepped and brought the leader down with a well-placed thrust.

Swein was not as lucky, he got tangled up in his gear while drawing his dagger and was taken down.

The Hobgoblin archer fled as Brodir and Urd turned to face the remaining Hobgoblin soldiers. With a well-placed blow, Urd lifted the Hobgoblin spearman’s head from his body. Brodir was caught by the hobgoblin’s axe as he was still turning and hit the ground hard. With sword drawn, Tofa stepped back into the fray. This was too much for the remaining Hobgoblin who chose to flee than to face the sisters’ wrath.

Urd and Tofa tended their companions’ wounds. They all agreed the men should stay and rest while Urd and Tofa pushed on to Tofisson’s farm. The sisters advanced another quarter mile when they discovered two Hobgoblin spearmen. To keep the spearmen away from their wounded comrades, Urd and Tofa stepped into a clearing to challenge the spearmen.

Tofa pointed her staff at a spearman and shouted something in an ancient tongue; the spearman crumpled to the ground. Urd tightened her grip on her axe and charged. The Hobgoblin tried to turn to flee, but the Norsewoman was too fast, and he too fell to the ground.

Urd began searching the Hobgoblin bodies. Tofa asked, “Looting? You don’t expect to find anything of value, do you?”

“I find it odd that while all of the warriors have been called away, well equipped Hobgoblins are roaming the countryside undetected, and judging by the silver in their purses, they’re also well paid” answered Urd.

“We should push on,” said Tofa, “we should make sure the Tofisson’s are safe.”

“Ha, you’re still thinking we’ll find your pissing bear” Urd sneered.

The farm was quiet except for the croaking and cackling of ravens as they fed on corpses. Urd shook her head, they were too late to warn anyone.

“Urd, look at the edge of the well, do you see how the sky shimmers?” asked Tofa.

“Faen!” uttered Urd. The sky not only shimmered, but it moved as well.

The creature roared. “It’s seen us, we have to strike now,” Urd snarled as she charged across the clearing.

Tofa’s incantation turned into a scream, and as Urd reached the Brunnmigi, it howled and burst into pieces. Urd halted covered in blood and gore, she turned and saw Tofa lying on the ground.

Magic demands a price to be paid and powerful magic costs dearly, Tofa was still breathing and soon she regained consciousness. “Did you kill it?” Tofa asked.

“Kill it? It burst into bits and pieces before I could swing my axe” Urd replied.

Tofa winced, “Every bone in my body hurts, it hurts to move.”

“Climb on my back, I’ll carry you back to where we left Brodir and the others. We’ll lick our wounds and then limp back to the village” said Urd.

Changing an Encounter to Fit the Story

Though there appears to be a couple of bestiaries available on the Two Hour Wargames Patreon site for WHAT (Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir), I’m betting they don’t contain a Brunnmigi. I’ll probably never know since I don’t subscribe to any Patreon sites; in the same way I avoid Kickstarters (unless it’s a Kickstarter from Annie at Bad Squiddo Games). I know, I’m old and crotchety.

When reading Norse mythology, it’s interesting that the appearance of most monsters and demons are described as some sort of bear. The beast’s name, “brunnmigi”, literally means “pees in a well” in old Norse. It’s a large monstrous demonic beast often described as a hybrid “fox-bear.”

I wanted to include this monster in an encounter, but rather than doing a whole Carousing with Job Offer encounter, I decided to make a simple die roll to determine if the band would aid in hunting down the monster.

Next, I decided to use the Wandering encounter and modified it to where the destination would be in Section 1, 2, or 3 of the table. I also decided that when the party reached the destination, they would encounter the Brunnmigi. The Brunnmigi is a Rep 5 Major Demon.

With the encounter set in the Interior of Mirholme, the Encounter Rating is 4, meaning there will be 4 PEFs on the table: Red, White, Blue, and Yellow.

The PEFs will resolve to Hobgoblin patrols. I use the Orcs’ stats for Hobgoblins changing the Class from Warrior to Soldier and the Wary attribute to the Duty attribute. Hobgoblin society is more ordered than the warrior society of the Orcs and the pure chaos of Goblin society.

Next Time

Next time as the adventurers return to Lodgenfir, they have an involuntary Confrontation encounter.

For previous episodes of this campaign:

• Episode 1: WHAT – Urd and Brimir’s Hold
• Episode 2: WHAT – Urd and the Bandits

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Really! I do read them, and they do help. I’ve got to wrap things up and go to the store to pick up a few ingredients for tonight’s dinner, and since I live in Texas, also pick up the largest bottle of sangria I can find. There’s no rule that says I have to endure the idiocy of the Texas legislature in a sober state.